TIDM45GD
RNS Number : 3108O
Lewis(John) PLC
01 October 2019
John Lewis plc makes the following announcement for John Lewis
Partnership plc, the ultimate holding company of John Lewis
plc.
FUTURE PARTNERSHIP
News release
Embargoed until 11:30am 1 October 2019
Accelerating our plans to deliver differentiation and
innovation
Today, the John Lewis Partnership is announcing changes that
will enable the organisation to be managed and operated as a single
business. The integration of the talented teams behind our two
brands of John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose & Partners,
will enable a faster delivery of better products and services for
our customers. The changes will also mean that the influence of our
customer-facing Partners will become stronger in shaping and
improving the customer offer. The plan is called 'Future
Partnership'.
The main elements of the Future Partnership plan are:
1. To organise and manage the Partnership as a single business -
not as two separate business units.
Our two brands will continue to serve customers online and in
our shops but they will now be managed by a single Executive team
responsible for the Partnership's business strategy and
performance. Led by the Chairman, the Executive team will comprise
seven new director roles with responsibilities across the whole of
the Partnership. There will no longer be divisional boards or
separate Managing Directors for John Lewis & Partners and
Waitrose & Partners.
2. To create new senior roles with responsibilities that span
both brands.
Among the new roles created, Paula Nickolds, currently Managing
Director of John Lewis & Partners, will become Executive
Director, Brand; responsible for the continued enhancement of the
Partnership's brands and leading the development of customer
experience and future innovations. She will lead Brand, Digital,
Marketing and Services across the John Lewis Partnership.
3. To create a smaller Partnership Board.
This will include the Chairman, the Executive Director, Finance,
three Elected Directors and a minimum of two Non-Executive
Directors, including the Deputy Chairman.*
As a result of the creation of the new cross-Partnership roles
and the greater integration of the two brands, it is anticipated
that there will be a reduction of around 75 senior management head
office roles from the current total of 225. Taken together all
aspects of the plan will ultimately lead to an overall cost saving
of c. GBP100m over time.
The changes will be with effect from 3 February 2020 and will
enable the Partnership to:
-- Sharpen its focus on the customer, speeding up the
development and roll-out of better products and services.
-- Harness the power of the Partnership's two brands working
more closely together (8 out of 10 customers who account for the
greatest sales are loyal customers of both John Lewis &
Partners and Waitrose & Partners).
-- Develop and set strategy in one place, identifying and
agreeing investment priorities and assigning our best talent to
them.
-- Unlock the competitive advantage of front-line Partners,
giving them a greater say in the development of our offer and how
it is delivered to customers.
-- Speed up decision-making, enabling the business to respond rapidly to customers' needs.
-- Make internal and customer service systems more efficient and
effective through developing common IT and supply chain
platforms.
Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership, Sir Charlie Mayfield,
said: "Our current structure has served us well in the past,
enabling us to develop two of the UK's most loved and trusted
brands. In the last three years we have delivered significant
innovation and driven efficiency, maintaining market leading
service standards and growing customer numbers. However, the lesson
of the last two years is that we need more innovation, faster
decision making and bolder steps to align our operating model with
our strategy. This is what the 'Future Partnership' is all
about.
Although there will be little or no disruption to our shops or
websites in the near term, there will be considerable change in
many other areas of the Partnership as we bring the two businesses
much closer together. These are necessary and these changes will be
difficult for some of our Partners and we will implement as
carefully and sensitively as we can.
We are confident, as a Board, that when the programme is
complete, the Partnership will be better positioned to break out
from the cycle of declining returns that are affecting most
established retailers. We will be a more modern and more unified
business with a leadership team and cost structure that will enable
the business to thrive in the long-term."
Sharon White, Chairman designate, said: "I am passionate about
working together as one Partnership. There is huge potential to
unlock from Partners working across our two great brands, providing
brilliant service to the many customers who shop at both Waitrose
& Partners and John Lewis & Partners. And I am very excited
to be taking forward the Partnership in this next phase of its
transformation when I join at the start of next year."
*: This change is subject to formal agreement of the John Lewis
Partnership Council, the Partnership's elected democratic body.
ENDS
Notes for editors
The new Executive team from 3 February 2020 will be as
follows:
Chairman Sharon White
Executive Director, Brand Paula Nickolds
Executive Director, Finance Patrick Lewis
Executive Director, People Tracey Killen
Executive Director, Operations Andrew Murphy
Executive Director, Customer Service Bérangère Michel
Executive Director, Trading To be appointed
Executive Director, Strategy To be appointed
ABOUT THE JOHN LEWIS PARTNERSHIP
The John Lewis Partnership owns and operates two of Britain's
best-loved retail brands - John Lewis & Partners and Waitrose
& Partners. Started as a radical idea nearly a century ago, the
Partnership is now the largest employee-owned business in the UK,
with 81,500 employees who are all Partners in the business and
share in its profits. The Partnership operates on strong democratic
principles, which means that every Partner has a say in how the
organisation is run. The business has annual gross sales of over
GBP11.7bn, 394 shops and a leading online business. Its commercial
strategy is focused on differentiation rather than scale, through
investment in innovation and Partner-led service.
ENQUIRIES
John Lewis Partnership
Simon Fowler, Partner & Director of Communications, 07710
398460
Clayton Hirst, Partner & Group Head of Corporate Affairs,
07947 708167
Sarah Henderson, Partner & Group Senior External
Communications Manager, 07764 676036
Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Simon Rigby, Joint Managing Director, 07771 784446
Jos Bieneman, Director, 07834 336650
Ellen Wilton, Associate Director, 07921 352851
John Lewis & Partners
Gillian Taylor, Partner & Head of Communications, 07919
057931
Waitrose & Partners
Graeme Buck, Partner & Head of Communications, 07703
379561
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
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END
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